The purpose of this program is to train physicians with expertise in transfusion medicine and Ph.D.s from related fields for a career in laboratory research fundamental to transfusion medicine. Transfusion medicine at the end of the 20th century involves the understanding of a variety of scientific disciplines such as cell structure and physiology, immunobiology, molecular biology, and molecular genetics. Twenty-one faculty members are involved in this training program. Eleven of these are research faculty who will provide opportunities for research and the development, cryobiology, complement biology, histocompatibility, molecular genetics and diagnostics, coagulation, cellular engineering, and xenotransplantation. Eight are clinical faculty who have been selected because of their expertise in clinical transfusion medicine. These clinical faculty members are actively involved in operating major blood centers and a complex hospital transfusion service. They provide expertise in general transfusion medicine and blood banking but also pediatric hemotherapy, apheresis - both normal donors and therapeutic, hematopoietic cell processing, neutrophil serology, histocompatibility and unrelated marrow donation,, coagulation, and clinical trails. Additional faculty will be participating in the training program by providing supportive experiences such as biomedical ethics, biostatistics, cost-effectiveness studies, epidemiology, and the proper conduct of research. Thus, the training program will assure a sound base in transfusion medicine, provide outstanding research training and opportunities and a solid background in ancillary experiences necessary for a young investigator. It is expected that graduates of this program will be the future leaders in transfusion medicine, will be contributing to the understanding of the basic mechanisms of disease, cell physiology, pathophysiology, and immunology that are central to transfusion medicine and providing important innovation in the development of transfusion medicine related novel therapies.
